JOLIET, IL - Sometimes it pays to go back to basics. That’s what Joey
Saldana did in winning the All Star sprint 30-lap feature Friday night at
Rt. 66 Raceway. It was his seventh win of the season in the Steve Mox,
Goodyear-shod Foxco-Chevrolet powered Stealth.

"We just got our engine back from Foxco, and put the car back like it
was in the beginning of the year and it was awesome. I could go anywhere
on the racetrack and it felt good," Saldana recalled. "We’ve been down on
motor recently and were changing the car to compensate for it. Now we have
a good motor back. I finally got some luck, they drew the right pill and
it put us on the front row."

Travis Whitney started on the ButlerBuilt Hot Seat pole position with
Saldana alongside. Saldana took off like a rocket on the big half mile,
with Whitney and third starting Jeff Shepard in tow. The race was red
flagged on lap three for a Ken Ratchford engine fire. He was okay. Saldana
held off Whitney following the restart in the first ever All Star event
here, with Shepard in third, waiting for a chance to move on Whitney. A
Joe Hauck spin on lap eight slowed action again, and a lap 11 yellow saw
Terry McCarl and Paul Ptasiensky both stop on the track. Unbeknownst to
McCarl, rock went through his hood, breaking the kill switch and oil
pressure gauge. McCarl thought he lost oil pressure, so he retired to the
pits.

After the halfway mark, on lap 16, Shepard finally moved past Whitney
for second and began to reel in Saldana and moved within striking distance
by lap 23. A red for another engine fire on lap 26 set up a four lap dash
to the finish, but Saldana was able to retain control and pocket the
$4,000 paycheck. Shepard finished second with tire problems, and Kerr was
making a move on Shepard for second on the last lap, but he hooked a rut
and finished third, followed by Kenny Jacobs, who started 11th and 12th
starter Keith Kauffman was fifth.

"We got lucky to finish the race with two flats," Shepard admitted,
standing beside Les and Lynda Stewart’s Maxim. "I was better than he
(Saldana) was in lapped traffic and caught him with seven to go, but I
basically limped on home. On that last red my right rear was flat and we
put seven plugs in it. In victory lane all the plugs were out and it was
flat, plus my right front had a big gash in it."

Kerr, the new track record holder and winner of an IRA show here in
August, said, "I just started too far back in eighth, it’s a big racetrack
and it’s hard to make up ground."

The United Expressline heat fell to Scott Jones, the Southwest
Expressline heat to Kenny Jacobs and the Southwest Glass heat was won by
Keith Kauffman. Kerr won the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dash in Stan
Shoff’s Maxim with Brian Paulus the United Expressline B Main winner.
Bobby Allen lost a driveline in time trials, ending his evening early.